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You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. There she was readying for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.

The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.

She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.

We’re at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the crowd.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

She was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”

She recalls to her youth, already beginning performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”

Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees